


Drop a Stone 2020 version Part non-linear vignettes between 500 BC and Collapse.

by Smoke_Bramandin



Series: Drop a Stone [2]
Category: Legacy of Kain
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:15:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22617736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smoke_Bramandin/pseuds/Smoke_Bramandin
Summary: These are non-linear scenes between the first and second major parts of Drop a Stone.  Plot holes may be introduced, so if these stories contradict other parts of Drop a Stone, those other parts are probably more correct for the main timeline.
Series: Drop a Stone [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1605454
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

Location: Hylden City. Time: Less than a month after Chixiksi and Ozker were rescued from the Eternal Prison.

Raziel disliked entering the Cage. It took up an entire building and was comfortably appointed, but it was still a prison. He heard Ozker singing distractedly from the laboratory. ([I Don’t Care Anymore by Phil Collins.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLpfbcXTeo8))

“It’s good of you to visit us,” Chixiksi said.

“This isn’t a social call,” Raziel said. “What do you wish to learn from me?”

Raziel wasn’t sure which of the inhabitants he disliked more. They hadn’t done anything to deserve his antipathy, but they still made him uncomfortable. Chixiksi was a Hylden. His kind had been banished from the world thousands of years ago, depicted in ancient murals as an enemy. Unlike those images, Chixiksi was beautiful in an alien way. Ozker had been born an ancient vampire, and the only physical difference from Janos was that in fits of self-mutilation he had plucked his feathers out too many times for them to ever grow back. He considered himself a Hylden now, but Raziel could respect that decision due to once having similar sentiments about being a vampire.

“There is something odd about this batch of samples.” Chixiksi pointed to a wall where multiple striped images were hanging. “These are from Kain’s children and grandchildren. The curse seems to be present, but there’s nothing for it to act on.”

“I don’t understand,” Raziel said.

“We’re not quite sure what to make of it, either. You shouldn’t be immortal,” Ozker said.

Raziel snorted. “One thousand years is impressive for being mortal, especially considering how many times I’ve been fatally stabbed.”

“If only we had a living subject,” Chixiksi said.

“Of course!” Ozker said. “Raziel, how often did you turn living humans?”

“Almost never. It’s easier when they’ve been dead for long enough to forget their human life,” Raziel said. “Even if I did want someone to remember, snapping their neck prevents them from struggling.”

“Will you show us the memories of how you raise fledglings?” Ozker asked.

Raziel nodded.

“There is another matter while we’re waiting for Sarah,” Chixiksi said. “I did it before realizing that I should have asked your permission, but I created a clone of you based on the samples Kain brought from the future. Please don’t ask me to destroy it.”

Raziel blinked in shock and followed Chixiksi to another room. There was a large tank with a boy floating inside. Long dark hair obscured his face, and for that Raziel was grateful.

“Physically, it’s human, and it should remain so until it gains the equivalent of old age and begins to degrade,” Chixiksi said.

“Is it alive?” Raziel asked.

“In the same sense that a tree is alive,” Chixiksi said. “If I were to decant it now, it would be very much like an infant, but without the potential to seem like anything more than an animal.”

“Then you can keep it as long as it continues to resemble a plant,” Raziel said.

“We don’t have samples from any turned vampire that can’t trace its ancestry back to Janos, but they all have been changed at the most basic level,” Chixiksi said. “If I could remove their immortality, their clones would still be part vampire.”

“We have a theory that the same thing would happen if I turned someone,” Ozker said.

Sarah arrived and asked Raziel, “Do you want to be the big spoon or the little spoon?”

They decided to settle on the couch with Sarah lounged across their laps. Once the mental connection was established, the Soul Reaver grabbed Sarah and began to lead her away.

She dragged her feet and complained “I want to see, too.”

The wraith blade was persistent, and they disappeared into another part of the mindscape.

“I’m not sure what to do,” Raziel said.

“Try to call up a memory of raising fledglings,” Ozker said. “If you allow me to intrude further, I could help pull it out.”

“I’d rather try to show you without further help,” Raziel said.

Once Raziel concentrated, it was surprisingly easy. He could smell the decay in the brood chamber. He remembered what it felt like to draw the thinnest thread of his soul out and use it to draw a loose soul into the body. When the corpse awoke, Raziel shoved his bleeding wrist into its mouth.

Sarah appeared again. “He just wanted to watch Lilo and Stitch.”

Chixiksi tried to suppress his chortling, while Ozker openly chuckled. Raziel narrowed his eyes because he did not get the joke.

“It seems that most of the process relies on magics that neither I or Chixiksi understand,” Ozker said. “Do you know what happens if a corpse is revived without giving it blood?”

“Zephon and Melchiah made a sport of it until Kain forbade the practice,” Raziel said. “They developed a hunger that only vampire blood would satiate. Living humans seemed unaffected until their deaths.”

“Vimputu,” Chixiksi said. “The curse has more than one component. The immortality treatment halted aging, but we also needed to synthesize a substance to keep the body healthy. It seems that vampires carry a bacteria that converts blood into a form of vimputu.”

“We’re planning an experiment to see if I can survive off of synthesized vimputu instead of drinking blood,” Ozker said.

“If you’re done sharing memories, I have things to do, as interesting as this is,” Sarah said.

“One more thing,” Chixiksi said, “Would you allow Sarah to try and find memories of your creation?”

“You can find memories that I can’t?” Raziel asked.

“It’s hard, but they should still be there,” Sarah said. “I didn’t pay attention in church, but Ozker was able to learn about my religion by going through those memories.”

“You’d hate it,” Ozker said. “She was part of a cult that worshipped their messiah, and every year they recreated his death.”

“It gets worse, but we’ll have time for that later,” Sarah said as she reached for Raziel.

His head ached and his mouth was dry. He opened his eyes to see a blue creature standing over him. It handed him a clay pitcher. “It’s water.”

He threw it in the monster’s face, but it did not react. “You can die fighting, or I can simply skewer you where you lay, it makes no difference to me.”

He finally spoke, “You’re me.”

The creature nodded. “I share your name and was raised from your corpse. I’m ashamed to say that I also inherited the less appealing parts of your personality.”

He turned to see a person tied to the wheel of their wagon. One arm was free, but it was obviously broken by the way he cradled it against his body. “Don’t hurt him, he’s my son.”

The creature said, “The only living witness to the way you disgraced yourself last night. He has assured me that he will bring your corpse back to the Sarafan and tell them that you died an honorable death.”

Sarah withdrew. “Sorry, I guess I went back too far.”

“The indignities never end,” Raziel said.

“If it helps, that was less embarrassing than what happened in the video game,” Sarah said. “You were just so proud of what you did to Janos.”

“We’re done here.” Raziel broke contact and stood up.

“Thank you, Raziel,” Ozker said.

Raziel climbed to the top of a tall building and stared out over the sea. He wanted to think, but not about his life as a human. He felt that if he began picking at that memory, more would follow, and he wasn’t sure he could stand himself if he knew anything more about his mortal life.

The wraith blade pressed at his consciousness. He let his outer senses dull, and his future self held up a small black rectangle. Raziel was confused because he had never seen a VHS tape before, but soon he was watching his first movie.


	2. Chapter 2

It was still roughly five centuries before the collapse of the Pillars, and a more relevant description of time was almost two years after Chixiksi and Ozker were rescued from the Eternal Prison. 

Kain strode into the cage and found Chixiksi in his main workspace. “You wanted to speak with me?”

“Do you know if this city is all that remains of my people?” the Hylden asked.

“Janos assured me that his people destroyed every base they could find. Unless there was some fortress that you could not point out to us, this is the last ruin. Anything that remains would have to be well hidden,” Kain said. 

“It is possible. We will have to burn that bridge when we come to it,” Chixiksi said. “Janos would have been the only one who could get here in the undisrupted timeline. Now there are several vampires who have this set as their sanctuary and they could escape the genocide. I will have to destroy this city if we want to prevent the portal’s creation.”

“How do you expect to do that?” Kain asked.

“The world that Sarah came from…” Chixiksi shook his head. “Those humans were so much worse than any race on Nosgoth. Sarah is unclear on the details, but it seems they built nuclear weapons before turning their attention to using it as a power source. This city’s power source is almost the same, and could be turned into a weapon to destroy the entire island.”

Sarah had shown Blood Omen 2 to Kain. While some parts were laughable, the rest seemed like it could almost be true. He also remembered that she had told him about a weapon on her world that was too dangerous to use. “Could you build a gate to the place of banishment and direct that energy to destroy them?”

“Please Kain, don’t even consider it. It might not be a genocide, but it is still morally abhorrent,” Chixiksi said. “The only reason why a nuclear bomb was ever used on her world is because one particular group of humans would have continued fighting down to the last man, woman, and child.”

“Are Hylden similar?” Kain asked.

“It was the vempari who might have fought until the last warrior fell. I cannot say what my people would do if released, but before the banishment, we were willing to negotiate peace as long as we didn’t have to submit to their god," Chixiksi said.

“Could a nuclear weapon be used as a threat?” Kain asked.

Chixiksi shook his head. “I’ve had plenty of time to explore what you’re asking of me, and I am willing to have a full discussion, but in the end you would have to use such a weapon to destroy them all without warning. Otherwise, the very idea is enough for them to build their own.”

“You’ve made it quite clear that you are done with genocide.” Kain had a similar discussion when Chixiksi asked him to kill the Mass. “How is your progress with the bloodcurse?”

“We should be ready for tests once Sarah emerges from the state of change,” Chixiksi said. “We will also need the help of a human unless you’re willing to allow me out of the cage. If I’m wrong about making the curse non-contagious, sending a vampire back to the war could have grave consequences. We should do the test sometime after the collapse of the Pillars. If this works, we’ll be inoculating you as a fledgling.”

“Since Janos no longer suffers from the curse, why can he not retrieve your test subject?” Kain asked.

“He might still be a carrier and we don’t have a way to check,” Chixiksi said.

Kain thought for a moment. “What about that clone of Raziel?”

Chixiksi shook his head. “Making it capable of thought is something that I would have had to do when I started. Even if Raziel used it as a vessel, part of the curse is attached to the soul. We need to have succeeded for it to be safe for even him to travel back to before the curse.”

“I think you’ve earned a measure of trust,” Kain said. “Know that if you betray me, it will be the rest of your race that will suffer.”

“You don’t need to threaten me,” Chixiksi said.

Sarah emerged from the state of change a few weeks later.

“Did you receive any new gifts?” Raziel asked.

“It’s easier to touch people’s minds,” Sarah said. “And look, my knuckles line up. I hoped that my eyes weren’t done changing color, though.”

“Green suits you; Rahab’s stayed blue,” Raziel said. “Chixiksi told me that they’re ready to test if the curse is non-contagious now. We can leave as soon as you’re ready.”

“You’re coming? But how did they manage to give you the new strain?” Sarah asked.

“If they were ever successful, then I would have inherited it from Kain,” Raziel said. “If I try to think about it too hard, I get a headache.”

There was a time streaming chamber north of Stahlberg. Janos, Chixiksi, Ozker, Sarah, and Raziel appeared in a flash of light. Sarah first set the device to bring them to almost a year after the Pillars Collapsed, showing Chixiksi how to set it for five minutes later. Once they arrived in the future, she set it for the height of the war between the vampires and the Hylden. Worldlessly, Chixiksi traveled back. When he returned, he had a wounded female vampire with him.

Janos rushed forward. “Hold still, you’re no longer in danger.” He’d had the forethought to bring a medical kit with him, considering how they needed to take someone who was likely to die. 

Ozker rushed forward to help as well. He grabbed a bottle from the kit, swiped a rag across the mouth, and held the rag to her face. She struggled, but then the strength seemed to flow out of her. She had three arrows lodged in her left wing, and another one lodged in the elbow of her right. Her leg was also broken, and she was bleeding from multiple cuts.

Janos murmured soft reassurances as he treated her wounds. He left some of the shallower cuts unbandaged after he cleaned them, but soon the bleeding was stopped and her leg was set.

“You’ll live,” Janos said. “What is your name?”

“Keturah,” she said before grimacing in pain.

Janos pulled another bottle out of his kit. “Drink this, it will help dull the pain.”

“Why did that Hylden save me?” She took the bottle and drank it before grimacing at the taste.

“It is a long story.” Ozker began explaining.

After he was done, Keturah frowned. “So you took the risk that I would be cast from the Wheel of Fate as well?”

“You would be better off,” Raziel said. “It drove you into that war so it could feed on your deaths. It’s nothing but a parasite.”

“Blasphemer,” Keturah spat.

“If it were a caring god, I would be dead,” Raziel said. “How much longer do we have to stay here?”

“Two days,” Chixiksi said. “Perhaps we should wait outside so she can rest.”

Wordlessly, Sarah followed Raziel and Chixiksi out of the time streaming chamber.

“What are they waiting for?” Keturah asked.

“That is how long it will take to make sure that the curse will not affect you,” Janos said. “Do not worry, the cure is painless.”

“Has God spoken to you since?” Keturah asked.

“No, but I have not tried to visit any of the sacred pools,” Janos said. “I’m afraid of what he might say.”

“I’m not cured,” Ozker said. “I’m also a heretic, so if you want me to leave as well…”

“You can stay,” Keturah said. “What will happen to me when you have what you are looking for?”

“You cannot go back home, no matter the outcome,” Janos said. “You also have a choice in whether or not you want to be protected from the contagious version of the curse.”

“It is foolish to assume that I would willingly be separated from the Wheel,” Keturah said.

Janos nodded. “I would have been surprised if you had not made the obvious choice.”

The two days passed slowly and without anything exciting happening. Keturah’s wounds scabbed over, but it appeared that she was healing at an expected rate. Ozker provided a demonstration on how the Dark Gift granted him the ability to heal instantly. It became clear that Keturah remained mortal.

Janos was just about to whisper to Sarah when she appeared from the time stream. “I travelled from the future. I’m here to invite Janos and Keturah to a time after the Pillars have been restored.”

“Only them?” Osker asked.

“You and Chixiksi can take the slow path,” Sarah said. “Janos, if you want to say goodbye, keep her outside until we leave. I don’t want to know what happens if I meet myself.”


	3. Chapter 3

It was an evening roughly sixty five years before the collapse of the Pillars. Kain stood on the cliffs near the fishing village that would have become Meridian. He was surrounded by humans and vampires that had grown to call the Hylden City home. 

Chixiksi offered Kain a small box. “Would you like to do the honors?”

Kain accepted it and opened the lid. Inside was a big red button that he had to turn before pressing down. The sky on the horizon briefly glowed with a false dawn, causing some fledglings to scramble into any shadow they could find. 

Kain waited until the sound reached them before he spoke. “My apologies for doubting your claims of its power.”

“It is hard to believe in,” Sarah said as she emerged from crouching in Kain’s shadow.

“How do people live on your world when such utter destruction is imminent?” Kain asked.

“Most people don’t think about it anymore,” Sarah said. “It’s been about fifty years and just about everyone who knows anything about the bomb knows that it’s a bad idea to use it, even if they saw it in a movie. Remind me to sing you ‘Whose Garden Was This’ and then tell you about ‘There Will Come Soft Rain.’ The people with their fingers on the button don’t want to push it because the people who wanted them there don’t want that to happen. We were more likely to die from a plague or something.”

Kain heard the murmuring of the crowd die down. “Zuletat is no more, but I have told you about an opportunity to build a new home. Now is the time to make your decision of whether to stay in this time or to make a one-way trip into the future.”

Raziel whispered into Sarah’s ear. “We’re already on a one-way trip into the future, it simply happens one second at a time.”

Sarah quietly giggled, but calmed down before saying, “It would be nice if we could tell them what would happen if they stayed.”

The mechanics of sending a large group into the future were not trivial. It involved traveling to the Stahlberg time streaming chamber. Most of the humans decided to try settling in the fishing village, but roughly three quarters of the vampires took Kain’s offer. Chixiksi and Ozker also decided to travel to the future at this point.

Kain worried that Moebius would try to stop him from cheating the dilemma, but the Timestreamer was conspicuously absent. Even in times when vampires were rare, there were enough mercenaries that were willing to face one, and this was still a time of plenty for vampire hunters. Surely Moebius wouldn’t let him win simply because he didn’t have his staff, and the obvious lack of resistance made Kain nervous.

Sarah had decided to live in Janos’ aerie again. Whatever magics he had used to keep the roof from collapsing wore out in his absence, but the failure only affected the main gallery and the balcony. There were still rooms that were stable without magic.

Kain was helping Sarah unpack by sorting a pile of carelessly crated drawings. “Why did you draw a picture of Moebius hugging me?”

“Sorry, I never finished that one. It’s the part where you stab him to kill him a second time,” Sarah said. “You think this will matter?”

“I had forgotten that detail,” Kain said.

“That’s why I like to get my thoughts out of my head.” Sarah pointed to a well-thumbed journal. It was the fourth copy of the complete game scripts because the other three had decayed too badly to be handled without falling apart.

“Do you ever tire of fighting the inevitable?” Kain asked.

“I don’t think of it as a fight,” Sarah said. “I feel bad for Raziel, but his Destiny is inevitable. All that’s left is to try and understand it. ♫You're far too keen on where and how and not so hot on why♩”

Kain frowned. “You wanted to sing a song about a garden, and then tell me something about the rain.”

Sarah recited the parts she could easily remember from ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’ by Ray Bradbury. She had forgotten completely about the dog, and she almost purposefully ad-libbed the part where the paintings melted. She made sure to explain the silhouettes on the wall. 

Kain had come to accept the notion that machines could put on convincing acts of servitude. He had developed a relationship with one only to resort useless threats before destroying the interface.

Sarah then sang ‘Whose Garden Was This’ by Tom Paxton. Vampires did cry, though the clear substance was different from human tears. If Sarah wasn’t wholeheartedly affected by the song, then she was putting on a most convincing act by becoming increasingly upset as she sang. Kain was almost moved to tears himself by hearing about the little loses that came with utter devastation. The song wasn’t accurate to his empire, but it was close enough.

Kain spent two days away from the home Sarah reclaimed for herself. He wasn’t trying to accomplish anything, he simply needed to be alone for a while. When he returned, he found that she had turned a main hallway into what she called a ‘murder board.’ Her voice echoed from around a corner, singing ‘The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel. 

Kain took a moment to study the drawings and phrases stuck to the wall and connected with colored strings. “Have I told you about the timeline where I decided to stab Raziel instead of casting him into the Abyss?”

“I don’t think so.” Sarah said as she came around the corner. She loved to hear about alternate histories that Kain had seen in the Chronoplast’s windows.

“Naturally the Soul Reaver could not consume Raziel’s soul, but it did not break. It simply refused to try. Raziel healed from his wound and the rest of my children became divided. Turel, Rahab, and Melchiah remained loyal to me, while Dumah and Zephon sided with Raziel. Clans warred with each other until very few vampires remained. When I confronted Raziel again, I was still armed with the Soul Reaver. I impaled him and had to leave my sword in his chest. Dumah submitted then, but Zephon…” 

Kain paused to collect his thoughts. “Zephon repaired and activated the silent cathedral. The only vampires that survived were the ones who were temporarily dead, including Raziel. Eventually a human found him and tried to take the Soul Reaver. You can guess at what that human’s fate was. Inevitably, Moebius had to interfere. There were dozens of variations on the theme, but they all ended with Raziel becoming the Soul Reaver.”

“And Moebius wasn’t likely to realize his mistake in having every vampire dead.” Sarah set her pen down. “You told me before that the Pillars wouldn’t come back just because you died. Actually, do you know how you’re going to restore the Pillars?”

“If somehow being healed of Nupraptor’s corruption doesn’t restore them, and if the knowledge doesn’t come to me, I shall ask the first Balance Guardian for help. Janos said that the original nine were adults when the Pillars were raised,” Kain said. “If you could choose to be a Guardian…”

“Pass,” Sarah said. “I don’t know how anyone in their right mind would want that kind of responsibility.”

“That is because you have no lust for power,” Kain said. “I would have expected better from you after all of this time.”

“I have all of the power I need simply by having your trust,” Sarah said. “Thank you for being reasonable enough that I can stay on your side.”

“You wouldn’t betray me even though I’m insisting that William must die?” Kain asked.

“I’m unhappy, but it’s not worth it, even if most of my friends weren’t safe in the future. I don’t want to end up like your girlfriend,” Sarah said.

“Someone like Umah would not have lasted long, even as a simple paramour,” Kain said.

“I thought you liked her because she stood up to you, and you only killed her because she went too far,” Sarah said.

“I do find it interesting when my will is resisted,” Kain said. “Though in my youth, it would have been her confidence that would have attracted me.”

“Do I need to be less interesting?” Sarah asked.

“You have not abused the latitude that I have granted you, and you abide by my decisions even when they offend your sensibilities,” Kain said. “I do not want you to turn into a sycophant. I value your insight too much.”


	4. Chapter 4

Location: The Hylden City Time: Within the first month that it became inhabited again.

Raziel found Sarah staring at what she called a ‘murder board.’ It consisted of drawings and phrases adhered to the walls of a room, and string showed the connection between distantly-mounted ideas.

“I am having problems with the wraith blade,” Raziel said.

“What sort of problems?” Sarah asked.

“It’s hard to describe,” Raziel said. “It wants something, but it lacks the ability to communicate what it is.”

Sarah motioned for Raziel to sit down on the bench and she sat beside him, letting her head rest on his shoulder. Their outer senses dulled, and they emerged into the memory of a forest. The trees were young, small enough for Raziel to wrap his talons around, and the ground was blanketed with dead leaves.

“Why do we always come here?” Raziel asked.

“I got tired of just having blank space when I established the connection, so I created a default place. This is where I used to play as a child,” Sarah said. “I could make it look like something else if you like.”

“No need,” Raziel said. “Where is the wraith blade?”

Just then, music started playing in the distance. Sarah recognized it as an [Apoptygma Berzerk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gouYqVZpvRo) song. “This way.”

Before the song ended, they were walking through a trailer park. Raziel’s future incarnation was lounging in the driver’s seat of a sedan, tapping the steering wheel in time to the music.

“What’s on your mind?” Sarah asked.

The wraith blade turned off the music and stood up. He then went to the door of the nearest trailer. Once inside he crossed the living room to a shelf full of tapes and DVD.

“Are you just bored?” Sarah asked.

He nodded. The gesture looked wrong because he lacked a jaw and didn’t wear a scarf to hide it like the current Raziel did.

Raziel crossed his arms. “I am gaining a new dislike for my predicament. Not only am I constantly reminded of my inescapable destiny, but having him intrude on my thoughts is insufferable.”

“It’s not much, but my head is filled with entertainment.” Sarah clasped her head as the Soul Reaver accidentally knocked some cases off of the shelf. “Careful!”

“What happened?” Raziel asked.

“We’re in my mind, remember? Having a setting is like a filter to make it easier to understand. He was being too rough with my memories,” Sarah said. “I know, how about you watch The Matrix. It’s where I actually got the idea of having a setting and they did a better job of explaining.”

Sarah helped the Soul Reaver pick up the fallen boxes. Soon he was holding a pile with the Matrix Trilogy, Animatrix, the Back to the Future trilogy, Minority Report, Paycheck, and Disney’s Sword in the Stone.

“This should keep him happy for a while,” Sarah said.

“If I watch these movies with him, why doesn’t he remember?” Raziel asked.

“Do you remember everything from the empire days?” Sarah asked. “It took a lot of work to learn how to dig out forgotten memories, and it might only be possible because my dark gift is telepathy.”

“Ozker offered to go into my memories. Is he telepathic as well?” Raziel asked.

“No more than usual. He learned how to use my gift,” Sarah said. “You’ll obviously learn as well since your future incarnation is _just helping himself to the contents of my mind_. It’s a bit rude, but I guess I’ll let him as long as he doesn’t figure out how to show you the embarrassing stuff.”

The Soul Reaver had set down the pile of movies and was rooting around in the cupboards. He pulled out a mason jar full of popcorn kernels.

“You’ll have to tell me what he ends up doing with the popcorn,” Sarah said. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

During the morning meeting, Raziel indicated to Sarah that he’d like to talk to her afterward.

“The popcorn was interesting. The sounds and the way it transformed…” Raziel said. “My counterpart wanted me to smell it with him and then he started crushing it with his claws.”

“Eating popcorn makes watching a movie more of a social activity. I was curious because neither of you have enough molars to chew.” Sarah frowned. “Darnit, now I miss crunchy.”

Raziel drew his eyebrows into a stern frown. Sarah had almost religiously ignored the changes the Abyss wrought on his form. Then he realized that she had focused on a defect that would be nearly invisible if that was the only thing he was lacking.

Raziel said, “I have watched The Matrix, and I find the whole thing surreal.”

“I had to explain some things to Ozker and Chixiksi, but it was also surreal for its intended audience,” Sarah said.

“I am curious about their Oracle,” Raziel said. “She said that Neo wasn’t The One, but he was.”

“I thought that might catch your attention,” Sarah said. “I think you said, ‘I seem to stray from their path... what is it about me, Demon, that makes me such an unreliable instrument?’ And there was some sort of rant about how everyone wanted you to kill Kain.”

“I do not remember saying that,” Raziel said. “I do remember being angry about Moebius, Ariel, and the Squid all worming into MY vengeance.”

“Right, that conversation started with ‘You have failed,” which was after you killed Janos,” Sarah said. “The Squid and Moebius should have known better. You would have been more likely to kill Kain if it was just Ariel calling for his death, but you didn’t like the others and got suspicious or something. It’s almost like they’re using reverse psychology to make you not kill Kain even though you want or wanted to.”

“That is an ominous thought,” Raziel said. “But my question was simply about Neo.”

“It’s been a while since I watched The Matrix, but I think the oracle said something about ‘You don’t believe in this destiny crap.’ There was also that thing with the vase and how annoyed Neo would get by thinking about whether or not he would have broken it if she hadn’t said anything. She could give other people more direct projections because they had faith. With Neo, she had to nudge him into making a decision. Were you the one I talked to about a machine that could flip a coin thousands of times in a second?”

“Briefly,” Raziel said. “Ozker gave me a better explanation of how the terminals here work.”

“Okay, so the Oracle in the Matrix could probably be running simulations in the background; dozens of variations in the time it took her to take a drag on her cigarette. What she told Neo is what drove him into making the choices that led him into discovering his power. She would have sabotaged that if she was honest with him.”

“How would you manipulate me?” Raziel asked.

“Since we’re on friendly terms, I’d ask politely and probably tell you why I want you to do it. Don’t forget that I need your trust to survive getting stabbed. I either need to be honest, which I prefer anyway, or be able to convince you after the fact that it was necessary. It’s not just the getting stabbed part because I really feel for you,” Sarah said. “But if somehow I got put into Moebius’ body and wanted to manipulate you… I’m going to need some time to think about that.”

“Take your time,” Raziel said.


	5. Chapter 5

Location: The Hylden City. Time: Within the first month that it became inhabited again, a few days after Raziel watched The Matrix.

At the end of the morning meeting, Kain said, “Sarah, I realized that you now have the ability to show me just how you came by the knowledge that you have.”

Sarah nodded. “Raziel, you might as well join us.”

Sarah led them to her bedroom, which because she got the mattress from Vorador’s mansion, the bed had space enough for a small orgy. “My body will probably fall asleep since I didn’t get enough yesterday, but my mind can go longer without rest.”

Raziel was already settling on one edge of the bed. “She said the connection works better with contact.”

“Vampires usually need to sleep only twice a week at your age,” Kain said as Sarah made herself comfortable against Raziel.

“Is that a practiced skill?” Sarah asked. “Because I was kept in a very small room for about a century and I think I started spending more time asleep than I did as a human.”

Kain decided not to argue and settled into the bed on the opposite side from Raziel, making Sarah the meat of the sandwich. He entered the mindscape and asked, “What is this hovel?” He was outside of a trailer-home.

“It’s where I grew up,” Sarah said. “I’ll forgive you for calling it a hovel because it’s below an off-grid cabin as far as legal definition of a residence. It’s on wheels which means that some laws call it a vehicle.”

“You were a roamer?” Kain asked.

“It’s expensive to move something this big, so it stayed put,” Sarah said. “I was trailer trash, which is just one step above homeless. If you’re going to make jokes about me being a peasant, make them now and then shut up.”

“You obviously rose above your upbringing,” Kain said. “The dress you arrived in seemed expensive despite your complexion. I assumed that it was a gift from a courtly admirer.”

“I bought it myself. It wasn’t that expensive even though more than I would have liked to pay. I would have gone with a longer skirt except that my boss thought it looked pretentious on someone my age. Don’t peasants have Sunday best or something?” Sarah asked. “I was not some sort of floozy; those were my court clothes, but court meant legal trial for a peon accused of murder. I was an honest working woman who could afford treats like new games. I could have even afforded the PS2 if my brother hadn’t died and left me with one.”

Both versions of Raziel were standing on the porch, crushing pieces of popcorn between their talons. The sane one walked toward Sarah and said, “I didn’t know you had a brother.”

“We didn’t spend much time together. I might as well be an only child since we didn’t live together,” Sarah said. “Whichever one of you thought of making popcorn, nice touch.”

“Popcorn isn’t just for movies?” Raziel asked.

“It is just for entertainment,” Sarah said. “I think this soap-opera moment was barely worthy, but the popcorn probably pushed it over the edge.”

Kain openly stared at the older incarnation of Raziel.

“He’s the wraith blade,” Raziel explained. “He somehow forgot how to speak during his imprisonment, but he is still capable of annoying me.”

“I hadn’t given any thought to this possibility,” Kain said as he reached for the Soul of the Reaver.

He slapped Kain’s talon away and turned to go into the trailer.

“He’s only a little bitter, but don’t try to touch him again unless he invites you,” Sarah said. “He only smacked your hand because he could.”

“Raziel, I still haven’t given up on somehow changing your Destiny,” Kain said.

“You can’t,” Raziel said. “I can only delay my fate.”

Sarah started her PS2 and put Jak and Daxter in. While the introductory movies were playing, Sarah got out the proper food for gaming, which was Moutain Dew and chips.

When Sarah handed Kain a Mountain Dew and showed him how to open it, he asked, “Could I have a cup?”

Sarah found it odd that Kain seemed to understand the nature of the mind-space, but dismissed it because she still had dreams about eating and drinking. She had caught him sampling the popcorn after she had thrown some into her own mouth.

“I’ll get you a wine glass, Mr. I’m-too-fancy-to-drink-out-of-the-can,” Sarah said.

Kain poured the drink into the goblet and examined it. “What a disturbing color.”

Sarah snorted. “People still drink it even when it comes in bottles, but the company tried different colors.” She decided to refrain from mentioning blue toilet bowl cleaner because she didn’t want to stop and explain that.

“Sarah, the game?” Raziel asked. “He’s mostly just standing there, occasionally tightening his bracer.”

“That’s a boredom animation. Outside of cutscenes, the puppet is under the player’s control.” She picked up the controller. “Right stick controls the camera, left stick controls the character. Jump, attack, other attack, aim.”

“This would be hard to describe. Puppet show is the best metaphor I could use.” Kain took a sip of his drink and winced at the taste. It somehow managed to be both sour and sickeningly sweet.

Sarah ran through the Gyser Island tutorial. “Most games have a “learn your abilities” level at the beginning. They were trying to make it flow better storywise by the time the fifth Legacy of Kain game was published, but if it’s not obvious, it’s still there if you know what to look for.”

Because everything they were seeing at the moment was a product of Sarah’s mind, she was seamlessly able to make her PS2 switch to Jak II. “This one assumes that the player knows the first game, so it’s less of a tutorial than a reminder.”

“You have given an introduction to games, so it is time to focus on the games about myself and Raziel,” Kain said.

“Soul Reaver 2 or Blood Omen 2. One should be familiar, the other didn’t actually happen. If you throw a coin in my mind, it will come up Blood Omen 2. If you throw a coin on the outside and it ends up on the edge, I’ll show you Defiance,” Sarah said.

“Since you have demonstrated a preference, I will go with your judgement,” Kain said. “Why did you not offer the first of those games as examples?”

“They were groundbreaking, which isn’t a point in their favor because first quickly becomes worst,” Sarah said. “Soul Reaver was an amazing game for when it was made, and it’s still fun, but it looks like crap compared to the game I just showed you. But it took me less than two minutes to stop noticing the difference except for a few moments.”

“Blood Omen 2, then,” Kain said. “I admit that I only glanced at the script since you said that it was fiction.”

Sarah decided to go through the motions of switching the PS2’s disc. “At the end of Soul Reaver 2, Raziel had just stabbed the Sarafan with the Reaver. Then the wraith blade woke up and stabbed Raziel with the Reaver. You managed to save him at the last moment, then Raziel thought he saw new memories forming and dying in your eyes.”

“Poetic embellishment,” Kain said.

“Figured,” Sarah said. “There was something you said where the audience could hear you even though Raziel’s narration said that he didn’t hear it.”

“What was it?” Kain asked.

“My god, the Hylden...we walked right into their trap. Raziel! Janos must stay dead!” Sarah quoted. “I never understood what you were worried about because you won.”

“Perhaps there were consequences further than you could see,” Kain said.


	6. Chapter 6

Location: The Hylden City. Time: Within the first month that it became inhabited again, the day after Raziel watched The Matrix… actually a continuation of the last chapter. 

“My god, the Hylden...we walked right into their trap. Raziel! Janos must stay dead!” Sarah quoted. “I never understood what you were worried about because you won.”

“Perhaps there were consequences further than you could see,” Kain said.

Sarah started the game, and Kain told Raziel, “The entire premise is preposterous because the Nexus Stone doesn’t exist, but I think that there are truths amid the lies.”

The Reaver Spirit threw popcorn at the screen when Kain was defeated, but he couldn’t say what his motivation was.

Raziel turned to his future incarnation after viewing the introductory movie. “Where you ever wielded by someone other than William or Kain?”

The Soul of the Reaver cocked his head as if the question itself was something that he couldn’t understand. He then held out his talon to Sarah. The contact lasted less than a minute, but she drew back her hand.

Tears formed in Sarah’s eyes. They were a different substance than human tears, and it was rare for a vampire to have too much lubrication except in cases where sand got into their eyes. Her breathing was fast and uneven. “I’m okay, I just wasn’t expecting that. He couldn’t always tell who was holding him.”

“Whatever he showed you obviously upset you,” Raziel said.

“I wasn’t prepared to be reminded of the Eternal Prison.” Sarah wasn’t telling the whole truth, but even saying that it was a secret would have scared Raziel unnecessarily. In the Eternal Prison she didn’t have enough room to pace, but Raziel couldn’t even move inside of the Reaver. He couldn’t bang his head against a wall or scratch at his skin.

There were memories of people saying his name. He hated it because he wasn’t Raziel anymore once he became the sword. Moebius, a strange deformed Hylden, and Kain on the day he realized the truth about his sword.

Sarah played through the first part of the game, commenting and answering questions when necessary, but it was mostly boring. 

“That is Vorador?” Raziel asked. “The puppet looks terrible.”

“That’s not the worst screw-up,” Sarah said. “Chixiksi’s puppet is a generic corrupted Hylden.”

“At least mine is close,” Kain said. “It doesn’t quite capture how handsome I was even back then, but I don’t find it offensive.”

“I apologize in advance for laughing,” Sarah said, “But Marcus is the funniest enemy.”

Kain frowned because she snickered during his puppet’s conversation with an unresponsive bishop. “Do not laugh while the game portrays me being foolish. They obviously took some liberties at my expense.”

Sarah handed the controller to the Soul Reaver. “There’s a part coming up that’s hilarious. I’ll be in the other room so you can’t hear me.”

“Why does he get to play?” Raziel asked.

“Because he’s looking beyond the illusion and doesn’t need to use the controller,” Sarah said. “It’s complicated to explain, but it’s like Neo seeing the code while in the Matrix.”

When Sarah came back, Kain had his arms crossed.

“You were right, that part where he fell through the window was amusing,” Raziel said. “And then the puppet looked up as if he were insulted. Even my future incarnation laughed.”

“We are done with this game,” Kain said. “Does the next one do anything to make me look foolish?”

“I think there’s one bit where it’s at your expense. Not really that funny. It’s the end of a fight with Raziel and you manage to get ahold of him, but he headbutts you hard enough for you to feel it,” Sarah said. “Otherwise you’re putting the laughter in slaughter. The rest of the undignified moments aren’t funny.”

Kain nodded, and Sarah switched the discs in the PS2. She said, “Raziel, you might want to look away for the first bit. It goes by pretty fast, but there’s a scene from your execution.”

Raziel’s future incarnation was still controlling the game. When Kain’s puppet said “The touch of water was like acid to a vampire,” the Soul of the Reaver shoved forward on the control stick. The puppet exploded into a cloud of bats and the scene reloaded.

“We’ll have to put one of the Blood Omen games in if you want to see him burn,” Sarah said. “I recommend the first game because he makes more noise.”

The wraith made a dismissive gesture and began playing again.

After a while, Sarah fell asleep. The game still worked, but parts of the scenery began to drift as if gravity decided to stop working. The wraith almost seemed not to notice, but then he crossed his legs as he slowly floated above the couch.

Kain nudged Sarah, whose mental image was leaning against him. Gravity began working again.

Sarah shook her head, “Dreaming about sleeping. Just goes to show how boring it is to watch someone else play a game when you’ve played it at least a dozen times. I’m going to make a pizza.”

“It’s repetitive,” Raziel said. 

“That’s the only way they managed to get as much of it finished as they did,” Sarah said. “They never have enough time to put in everything they want to, and they really needed to kill you off because your voice actor didn’t want to do it anymore. Other than leaving it on another cliffhanger, they wanted to include Umah and an explanation for why Vorador is alive in the other game.”

“It is odd that they would have chosen alternate timelines for the games and then plead that circumstances pushed them into telling the story as it actually happened,” Kain said.

“Maybe the river branches,” Sarah said. “Maybe there’s a version of the world where Ariel wasn’t killed at all, and I just travelled to the version that would be most familiar.”

Kain frowned. “I am quite sure that when the course of History is changed, everything within the original path is destroyed.”

“What would it look like if those other possibilities could still exist?” Sarah asked as she pulled the pizza out of the oven.

Sarah took a slice for herself and got one for Kain. He flinched as he tried to put it in his mouth.

Sarah swallowed a bite of pizza and said, “If you don’t end up with blisters in your mouth, you’re doing it wrong.”

“You would intentionally burn yourself even as a human?” Raziel asked.

“It’s not that serious, and the mouth heals fast,” Sarah said. “Molten cheese is worth it.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was originally published as chapter three of part three. I found another version of the day the Pillars became corrupted that I had forgotten about, so I moved this here and put that version where this was. I don't think that Sarah actually needed to be there.

Sarah appeared in the front alcove of Vorador’s manor and walked to the East Library. It was just before dawn, and she was wearing a heavy cloak. She could stand naked in the sun without spontaneously combusting now, but it still caused an uncomfortable amount of damage to her skin.

Vorador was waiting for her. “Was this mess truly unavoidable?”

“In the strictest sense, no, but is the safest way.” Sarah noticed that Vorador had been playing with his Jenga set. “Finneas could have taken your place.”

“Finneas would be useless with grief if he had lost as many children as I have,” Vorador said. “The Pillars corrupted; I’m glad that Janos was sent forward to a time after their restoration.”

While Janos’ heart was required to make Kain, his death was not. The Hylden were able to clone the vital organ, allowing him to live on. Even making him mortal afterwards did not matter. Kain had been nervous about the procedure, but it seemed that History didn’t care beyond the Heart of Darkness being available for Mortanious to use it.

“I did want to prevent the assassination of William. This part was even more unavoidable. Are you ready to say what needs to be said?” Sarah asked.

“It seems idiotic, but yes,” Vorador said. “Raziel doesn’t seem like the type to fall for such obvious bait.”

“It’s more subtle than what everyone else is doing to that version at the moment,” Sarah said. “You could just say ‘go back five hundred years and talk to Janos’ or something, but he reacts better when he thinks he has options.”

“What else is coming?” Vorador asked. “I am curious about the future, now.”

“What do you know so far?” Sarah asked.

“Five centuries ago, Kain asked me to kill three specific Guardians. Three centuries ago, Kain asked me to cripple Malek so that he would both be fused to his armor and hold a grudge against me. Roughly thirty years from now, a fledgling Kain will come to me for help because he couldn’t defeat Malek. He said it was important that he see me as a surrogate sire since he was created by necromancy.”

“So you pretty much know all that you need to,” Sarah said.

“Kain also told me that I died,” Vorador said. “How did it happen?”

Sarah paused to think. “You’ll be the last vampire besides Kain that belongs here, and the younger Kain will arrive just in time to watch your execution. That’s part of the reason why he refused to sacrifice himself to heal the Pillars. He was angry about what happened to you.”

“I will not give up so easily,” Vorador said.

Sarah nodded. “While it makes no real difference, it wouldn’t be right for you to surrender just because you won’t survive.”

“Raziel told me that fairy tale that suggests my death may not be permanent,” Vorador said.

“We can try to bring you back, but we’re not sure how it would work,” Sarah said. “There also isn’t a magic rock that can protect people from the Reaver.”

Vorador waited outside the entrance to the Forge of Darkness. He had seen Raziel enter twenty minutes ago, and was just wondering how long it could possibly take when Raziel emerged again.

“You’re a ragged excuse for a savior,” Vorador said.

Raziel walked towards him. “Vorador.”

“I see my reputation precedes me. All good, I hope?” Vorador stopped leaning against the wall and strode toward Raziel. “I’ve been watching you since you emerged from that accursed stronghold. Strange that your arrival coincides with the corruption of the Pillars.” He began chortling. “I’m sorry. We met centuries ago and I know that your sire brought you here deliberately because of prophesy.”

Raziel bristled. “Are you trying to manipulate me as well?”

“I should have, but what I’m supposed to say is just too ridiculous.” Vorador’s ears twitched, responding to a sound that Raziel couldn’t hear. “I could try again to give you the whole speech, but the important part is that you need to travel five centuries into the past and find Janos Audron.”

“And what of the prophesy?” Raziel asked.

“You will have to ask someone else, such as Janos.” Vorador crossed his arms and grumbled, “Time travel. You would think that somehow it could be used to prevent this current massacre, or even the Sarafan crusade. Instead, I have to endure this nonsense.”

“If I am meant to travel to the past, maybe I could prevent the Sarafan from existing,” Raziel said.

Vorador’s ears twitched again. “Janos has been alive for long before the Sarafan. You’re welcome to try altering that history.”

Vorador teleported to a clearing. Sarah had been watching from nearby and she walked toward him.

“Nice save. You shouldn’t have complained about time travel, though.”

“It was strange, as if I couldn’t help myself,” Vorador said.

Sarah stared at him. “It was… in the original timeline, you said Janos had died five centuries ago. Raziel still wanted to go back to a time before the Sarafan. Moebius had to resort to some heavy manipulation to drop him in that era.”

“Do you know how time travel works?” Vorador asked.

“Almost,” Sarah said. “What would you like for me to use as an example?”

“The assassination of William. What would have happened if that was prevented?” Vorador asked.

Sarah sighed. “You already understand most of what was changed when I saved Janos from the Sarafan. You even had to do half of the work to keep the timeline from going Jenga. William’s death has a similar weight, except I’m not sure how much effort we would have to go through to keep the timeline stable. It could have even erased the Soul Reaver.”

“Do you know who did it?” Vorador asked. “Is he still alive?”

“He’s out of your reach,” Sarah said.

“That’s fortunate for him,” Vorador said. “Will I see you again?”

“I might drop in for a social call,” Sarah said.


End file.
